1. Field Of The Invention
This invention herein pertains to a fishing rod holder for mounting on a boat or the like for releasably gripping the rod during trolling or other fishing activities.
2. Description Of The Prior Art And Objectives Of The Invention
In the past many devices have been utilized to hold a fishing rod for fishing while aboard boats and also rod holders have been developed for pier and beach fishing to free the hands of the fishermen. Such prior art devices will securely hold a rod to prevent the surf or the strike of a fish from dislodging the rod from holder preventing the rod from being pulled into the water. Fishing rod holders developed in the past often include mechanisms to allow the rod to pivot so the user can pull the rod in an arcuate path to "set" the hook in the event a fish strikes. Other prior art devices have rod locking means as set forth in Dumler U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,998. Thus, the fishing rod holders heretodate conceived are somewhat unwieldy if an attempt is made to remove the rod from the holder to "play" the fish and as a result, a potential strike can be lost by the fisherman. Also, fishing rod holders in the prior art generally do not provide the adjustability pertaining to rod placement desired by users and for this and other reasons the present invention was conceived.
Therefore, with the aforementioned and other disadvantages associated with conventional fishing rod holders, the present invention was developed and one of its objectives is to provide a fishing rod holder which will vary the degree of pressure or gripping force on the fishing rod handle depending on the pivotal motion of the holder.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a rod holder which can be adjustably rotated from side to side and secured at any desired angle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fishing rod holder which can be adjusted to tightly grip a fishing rod in its extended position (away from the user) and when rotated by the user, as for example when a fish strikes, to loosen the grip on the rod so the rod can be removed for playing the fish or reeling in the fish as conventionally done.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a fishing rod holder whereby the particular angle or tilt can be quickly adjusted as particular conditions may dictate.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an expansion member for use on a small boat whereby a number of fishing rod holders may be connected thereto with ease and convenience.
Other objects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed explanation is presented below.